Many users of wireless telecommunications services are familiar with purchasing an allotment of usage units in the form of time, for example usage minutes or package plan minutes per telecommunications billing cycle. Once package plan minutes are consumed during a billing cycle, users are typically charged an overage rate, for example 45 cents/min, for every minute of use beyond the package plan allotment for the billing cycle. Potential overage charges in some cases are offset by unused plan minutes called “rollover” usage units. Previous systems allow users to “rollover” unused minutes for use in subsequent usage periods or billing cycles. However previous rollover methods and systems are limited in providing rollover services to plan members and providing rollover data to plan members and customer service personnel.
Because previous systems and computer-readable-mediums are embedded in the billing systems of communications service providers, they are not accessible by multiple channels and are limited in flexibility and capability. For example, previous rollover systems offer billable units in minutes but not for other units of measure or for a variety of predetermined periods of time. Consequently, either all rollover minutes granted expire on the same date or the period of usage cannot be changed without the cumbersome changing of billing system parameters to extract and change the rollover data and code. Thus, although rollover usage units are offered in previous systems, they are not offered in a billable form other than minutes. Rollover units are also not offered in previous systems for a variety of usage periods such as 6, 12, and 24 billing cycles. Once a usage period is set in previous systems, the usage period is fixed for all customers or subscribers who use the rollover plan.
Furthermore, previous systems are not capable of having administrative or customer service personnel make adjustments to rollover usage units in the interest of marketing promotions or correcting errors. Also, subscribers cannot directly review their usage data and project a usage plan to avoid overage costs. Further, in order to make rollover information or data packets available to other channels for review in previous systems, cumbersome changing of billing system parameters to extract the rollover data is necessary. Thus, the speed to market of promotions regarding adjustments or grants of usage units is hindered. Additionally, previous systems are not easily equipped to support revenue deferrals beyond the current cycle based on unused rollover units. Also from a development stand point, previous systems embedded in a billing system cannot be developed in parallel with the billing system, thereby increasing development cost.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.